Published date: 11 July 2016 |
Published by: Staff reporterRead more articles by Staff reporterEmail reporter
A COUNCIL official, who worked with the homeless, pocketed rent due to landlords, and spent it on his binge drinking.
Defendant Michael James Lloyd, a homeless prevention worker for Denbighshire county council, liaised between tenants and private landlords.
But he arranged for rents to be paid to himself in cash and spent it on himself.
It came to light when he was away from work and a woman came in to the office wanting to give him money.
At Mold Crown Court today (Fri) he admitted five charges of fraud, one while in a position of trust, amounting to £8,000.
The prosecution had alleged that the fraud totaled £9,850.
Lloyd, 56, of Abergele Road, Old Colwyn, was not supposed to handle cash but accepted money and kept it for himself.
A man of previous good character who has since suffered a stroke, he escaped immediate custody.
He received a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years. He must remain indoors between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. for three months under a tagged curfew and he was placed on rehabilitation.
A Proceeds of Crime time table has now been set and the judge said that he hoped the money could be recovered.
Judge Rhys Rowlands said that the case involved dishonestly while the defendant was employed by the council.
“You were the homeless prevention officer liaising between private landlords and tenants to prevent people from being rendered homeless.
“You were trusted by both your employers, the landlords and the tenants, who assumed you were safeguarding their interests.
“But what you did was take money from the tenants which was supposed to go to the landlords and use it yourself.”
Judge Rowlands said that regular payments were being made to him and dishonestly appropriated by him. Landlord and tenants had lost out.
“You had a problem with drink and part of that money was used to pay for your drinking.”
It was “repeat dishonesty” born out of greed not necessity over a period of some months.
There were a number of victims, the sums involved were quite significant , and the judge said that some landlords were concerned that they might have to sell their property because of their losses.
“There is a real breach of trust here,” he said.
But in view of his previous good character, his age and ill-health, he had been persuaded to suspend the sentence.
Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing said that the offences spanned June 2013 to December 2014.
The defendant was homeless prevention officer, and temporary accommodation officer, until June last year, when his employment was terminated.
There had been no concerns until the defendant was away on sick leave, another employee was covering his work, and a lady attended the offices in Rhyl asking for the defendant, saying she needed to pay him her rent.
She explained how she had been homeless, the defendant helped her get a flat in Rhyl, she gave him a deposit and he told her to pay £350 a month.
In total she had made 17 payments of £350 – amounting to more than £5,900 – and was shocked to find herself technically in arrears.
The landlord who trusted the defendant had been requesting the money and now feared he might be forced to sell the property.
Another landlord contacted the council to express concern about the management of one of his properties.
A monthly rental of £550 had been agreed with a tenant and at the time it all came to light he was owed £2,200.
That tenant was shocked to discover what had happened and feared that he and his sons could have been made homeless because of it. He felt let down.
Another tenant had handed over a £500 deposit and £500 in rental.
Some of them had asked to pay by direct debit but the defendant had asked for cash.
Arrested and interviewed, he said he was a binge drinker, spending between £200 and £300 a week on drink, and was £40,000 in debt. He said that he took money to pay off loans.
Defending barrister Sarah Yates said that her client was a man of good character who had suffered a stroke when the offences came to light.
The defendant lived with his wife of 11 years and step-son in a flat and while he did not have savings there would be money in the property to cover the POCA proceedings. “Eventually compensation will be awarded,” she said.
Miss Yates said that the defendant’s mental health had been affected and she asked the court to drawn back from an immediate prison sentence.
SEE-http://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/164140/denbighshire-council-worker-from-old-colwyn-pocketed-rents-and-spent-it-on-drinking.aspx
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